Without a doubt, almost every recruiter is already leveraging the power of LinkedIn to find talent. As the video we shared a couple weeks ago proved, job seekers are all over social media so it’s critical for potential employers to be there as well.

While you may be dabbling in LinkedIn, you may also be part of the many who still aren’t doing everything they can find the best people for your open positions. This infographic from AkkenCloud will help you succeed. They go over everything from the latest LinkedIn trends, to sharing your job descriptions and organization information to building a network of talent. Can you add any additional information based on your experience? Share your advice below.

Social media has changed the way we recruit and LinkedIn is a major role in this area. Whether you’re a recruiter looking to fill a pipeline or a manager seeking somebody to join your team, there are loads of ways you can take advantage of the professional network. The question is: are you doing everything you can? Here are a few basic tips to improve your recruiting on LinkedIn and most of them are completely free!

Enhance Your Profile

Look at your profile from a candidate’s perspective. Do you look credible and professional? Are you quickly answering any questions they might have about you? Most people already have a good profile picture, but there are other factors people don’t always consider:

Make sure your title accurately describes your position.

Link back to your organization’s website so people can learn more about you.

Have a compelling description of yourself that identifies your location, exactly what you do, what your company does, and what type of people you may seek. Tell a story that grabs their attention.

When listing skills and certifications, focus on the ones that a job seeker would want to know you have. For example, if you’re going to be their manager, highlight the skills that people would want to have in a boss.

Edit your personal link. In your profile, right below your image, there’s a small LinkedIn URL that will send people directly to your profile. On the right side of the screen when editing your profile, there’s an option to customize that Public Profile URL. Make it something easy to remember and include it in your signature block so others can easily look you up.

Manage and Build Your Network

If you’re not already connected to everyone you know, get on that. LinkedIn has some intelligent ways to help you find people you know and can even tap into your email contacts and send invitations for you. Once you have a good list, start tagging your contacts. Simply go to “Connections”, hover over your contact, click “Tag”, and group people together. This makes it easier to filter and search people.

Create and Share Your Company Showcase Page

LinkedIn Showcase Pages are a simple and free way to build your brand on LinkedIn. Engage your marketing team to make the design and messaging consistent with the rest of your organization, then start encouraging your network to follow. The Showcase Page can be used to share company news, industry information, and even job opportunities.

Share More Content

Sharing content is the perfect way to build your own credibility and engage with your connections. Set a goal of sharing a few articles per week that would add value to your network, as well as some job postings, and share your opinion to start a conversation. If you’re having trouble finding content, consider subscribing to some RSS feeds or follow thought leaders on LinkedIn, then share your favourite pieces. You can also save time by connecting LinkedIn to your Twitter account and having your tweets stream into LinkedIn. Don’t forget to comment and like other people’s posts.

Take Advantage of Groups

The right LinkedIn groups are filled with potential candidates. Seek out and join the ones that fit with the people you are seeking. Consider searching for groups by skills, location and industry to find the best ones. After you join a group, you can start building relationships with members by sharing content, including job opportunities in the Jobs tab. You can also search through recent discussions for topics like “Seeking new opportunity” and contact people directly. If you can’t find a group with the people you are seeking, then create and build a group; just remember to maintain it.

The Traditional Recruiting Tools

It would be ridiculous to talk about recruiting on LinkedIn without discussing the obvious tools. LinkedIn has basic and advanced search capabilities that allows you to search through not just your connections but your connections’ connections and your connections’ connections’ connections! If that’s not working, share your job postings in a number of different ways. We already discussed using your status, Show Case Page and Groups, but if you’re willing to invest some money, you can also post to the LinkedIn Job Board or upgrade your profile to gain access to more professionals.

Are there any tips above that you can start using to enhance your LinkedIn recruiting? Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comments section below!